I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Cassia4u
Summary: Sixth year for Roxanne Weasley is anything but normal. An attack at the Portkey Station, the arrival of the Durmstrang boys...everything is turned upside down, and that's BEFORE ghosts start talking in her head. Romance, mystery, adventure...no one will expect what's in store for the daughter of the famous prankster George Weasley! On my profile page is a link to the cover!
1. Chapter 1

_I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings_

**Before you start, if you want a picture of how I imagined Roxanne to look, think of Madison Pettis. I imagined Roxanne to look kind of like her.**

_Chapter 1: Victoire's Demon_

"Dominique! Dominique! Come out! You can't stay in there forever!" I shouted. My fist was getting sore from repeatedly pounding on the heavy oak door.

"It's your sister's wedding, you've got to come down! You're one of the bridesmaids!" Rose bellowed, and we both quieted to hear an answer, looking at each other with wide, panicky eyes. Dom's sobs only increased; she was wailing and noises that sounded like screams into a pillow were also coming from under the door.

Rose and I exchanged another exasperated look from our shared spot by the door. We probably looked very strange, yelling , red-faced, and antsy with our hair up and curled in identical hairstyles, our dresses swooshing around our knees; also identical.

"Blimey, this is getting ridiculous. Make sure no one's coming," I hissed, pushing off from the door and reached into the folds of my dress, where I had ripped a bit of fabric to tie my wand on the inside.

"Roxanne!" Rose blurted, her blue eyes wide.

"Alohamora," I whispered, and with a click the door flew open to reveal Dominique who was curled up on the bed and sobbing, teary-eyed, and messy-haired. She was surrounded by a pile of used tissues.

"Get out and leave me alone!" She screeched, voice raspy from crying. Honestly, she really took the form of her ancestors at this time, and I'm not talking about the silver-haired pretty dancing persona, I'm talking red eyed, clawed and scary hag.

"Up." I demanded, clapping my hands together and readying my wand. I'd already done one underage (I was sixteen, going into 6th year) spell, what would another hurt? It wasn't like the Ministry would actually do anything about it, not in the dwelling place of Sir Harry Potter himself. Besides, one half of the greatest prankster duo in existence, my father George Weasley, once told me that the ministry really had no way of knowing _who _fired off the spell if there was a lot of magic going on at once. They trusted the parents to keep their children under control. _So, _we were very safe indeed.

"Accio blankets," I said, in a no-nonsense sort of voice that Grandma Weasley would have been seriously proud of. With a swish and a screaming lunge from Dom, the blankets flew up, along with the avalanche of tissues, and were deposited neatly onto the floor.

Rose and I began to half-drag a squirming, screeching Dom into the shower, fully clothed and spluttering.

Then after, Rose wrestled a still screaming, sobbing, and writhing girl into her bridesmaid's gown as I violently tugged her hair into something as remotely presentable as it could be given her constant flopping. _Honestly, Dom, are you three or nineteen? Trust her to be completely dramatic at the most inopportune, inconvenient moment. A.K.A, her sister's wedding._

By this point she was mostly calmed down and was only quietly sobbing into her hands as I stuck butterfly pins into her hair, hoping it resembled more of a half-up, half-down updo and not a tangled, failed attempt at a bun, which is, of course, what it really was.

"Now, Dom," Rose says calmly, looking a bit rumpled herself as she kneels down and takes both of our cousins hands. "This _is _just a little crush, right? You and Teddy aren't...you don't...you know he's your sister's fiancee?" Her pleading voice went up at the end like a question. Neither of us were particularly good at emotional stuff but I could tell Rose was pleading not for her own sake, but that Dom wasn't really about to have her heart completely broken by a sister she had never been too close to.

Dom peeked out at us miserably with one watery, long lashed, silvery blue eye. Neither confirming or denying.

"Well," I announced briskly. "That's all." I put the finishing pin in rather violently, relieved that although she _had _basically been wrestled into her makeup and dress, she still looked stunning.

Not. Fair.

"Alright," Rose took Dom's hand and pulled her up. "Let's run."

One would expect a calm, quiet, girly little affair, where we whisper secrets over fru-fru-y painted nails and giggle about boys while simultaneously curling our hair and-whatever else. Well, maybe elsewhere, but not at a Weasley family gathering. The estrogen that would have fueled that particular idyllic scene had a very different toll on _this _wedding.

Everyone was clustered behind the doors of the church when Dom, Rose, and I came running up.

"Enfin, vous folle, où avez-vous été! Vous êtes allé fou!" Fleur hissed through her teeth at Dominique, practically growling. From the tiny bit of French that I understood, I picked something out sounding like _where have you been, crazy girl! _Or possibly something about a street vendor and a male stripper, but I was more inclined toward the former.

"It's about time!" Grandma Molly's eyes flashed as she swatted each one of us in turn.

"Better late than-" Grandpa Arthur started.

"Mon Cherie!" Fleur gasped. "You are not still going on about this Teddy-"

"Everyone!" Victoire whisper-screamed, and we all shut up instantly. She was taking on a pink tinge to the cheeks, but she looked more nervous than angry. She looked terrified. "This is my special day," she said, dangerously quiet. "Can we all just be a normal family, this _one _time? For-"

The music began, interrupting Victoire's passionate speech, and all the Weasleys, Potters, and Delacours began a mad, scrambling dash to be out of the view of the doors-except fifteen year old Lily Potter and fourteen year old Louis Weasley, who walked in, arm in arm, throwing out dazzling smiles as the doors opened.

The audience oohed and aahed, and all of us pressed against the walls on either side of the doors in an effort to stay hidden let out a deep breath.

Rose and I locked eyes, and we both peered over simultaneously at Dominique. She and Victoire were pointedly not looking at each other.

When the appropriate time came, Albus Potter and I stepped out, smiling and whispering to each other through our teeth.

"Dom?" He asked through his smile.

"Not bloody well at all," I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. The walk down the aisle seemed like hours.

At the end we separated gracefully and floated over to our respective sides, surrounding Teddy and the space where his bride-to-be would stand.

The church had great, colorful stained glass windows whose illustrations moved, and they flashed and glowed in the sun, spilling a beautiful colorful sort of light onto the seats which were strung with bows and filled with fancy people.

The ceiling was enchanted to look like the weather outside, much like Hogwarts. So in this case, sunny without a cloud in the sky.

I scanned the crowd, growing extremely bored as our extensive family came through the doors. Something was going to happen, I could sense a feeling of nervousness beginning to eat away at my stomach.

In one of the front seats, Mum gave me one of her smiles that was really a glare: I could practically hear her saying _"Rox_anne, _how many times? Don't slouch! Be proud of your height, be glad you've got a little extra vertical and not horizontal!" _At 1.85 meters (6"1) with shoes, I had to walk down the aisle with Albus because he was one of the only groomsmen who were taller than me. I shrunk down even more. I'd calculated and if I really hunched myself down and contracted my spine I could just make 1.70 meters (5'10 1/2).

"Please stand for the bride," the minister announced, and the audience rose.

Victoire stepped out from behind the doors and slowly began to her walk down the aisle.

The audience all gasped as my beautiful cousin floated down the aisle, a charmed platoon of glowing silver and golden butterflies covering her flowing veil.

Her pearly white dress trailed behind her, hair in a perfectly elaborate updo. She was a vision. A perfect, glowing, vision. No man could resist her.

But Teddy was looking at her with a strained smile, eyes that held conflict and didn't glow like they had when he was laughing with Dominique.

Everyone but Victoire, Teddy, and the pastor sat down on the first rows and with a flash, the church around us disappeared.

A gasp rippled through the audience as a spectacular, panoramic forest scene appeared around us. Flower and vine covered trees, mossy ground.

"These new-fangled weddings are just _too _extravagant," came a small but commanding voice from a frail, old lady.

Everyone settled back down and Victoire's butterflies alighted from her veil.

Suddenly, it struck me just how almost ridiculously flamboyant the wedding _was..._Teddy looked a little scared himself, like Victoire hadn't filled him in on the detail concerning the church vanishing.

I looked back again at the old lady, but she had disappeared among the sea of faces. As I was turning back, I caught the eye of a dark-eyed, dark-haired, solemn looking boy, whose gaze was flickering between me and the rest of Harry Potter's relatives. I didn't like to sound snobbish about this, but we were all sort of used to being stared at in public, being relatives of the Great Harry Potter and all. And he _was _great, not just because of what he did back when he was a teenager.

James, Albus, and Lily were especially well-known, with Rose and Hugo coming in a close second. I turned back around, only to see Dominique...standing up. Just as the preacher was beginning to speak.

"Yes-yes, young lady?" He turned to Dominique, looking perplexed. The entire audience sat soundless, glued to their seats.

The silence was deafening. My hands were clenched, teeth grinding together, and my knees pressed painfully hard against each other. What was she _doing?_

"Teddy."

Just one word, searing through the thick, silent air.

A plea, a word heavy with heartbreak but a shard of hope.

Teddy stood stock still, motionless, and the look he locked on Dominique was a wide eyed, parted lips sort of expression full of final decisions and something else-was it love?

Wordlessly, Ted stretched his arm out to Dom.

She ran forward and touched her fingertips to his.; the moment she did this, they both vanished with a loud, resounding crack.

With them, they pulled the silence, and every last drop of quietness was sucked out faster than the crack of disapparation had taken to reverberate.

The tumultuous sound of hundreds of chairs scraping together spiralled towards the sky and the space in the woods was filled with arms reaching, voices shouting, hair flying-

"-that little slut-"

"Don't you call Dominique a-a you-know-what, your boy left with her!" A Weasley screeched back, and with that, a full scale riot broke out. Teddy's side of the clearing was at war with Victoire's; people were yelling, there was fighting, and children were wailing.

I would always remember this moment as my respect for Victoire increased exponentially, and I started seeing her in a new light.

I looked toward her and she was standing, as if shell shocked, eyes wide and glassy, hands hung limply at her sides. But not for more than a few seconds.

I saw her mouth move and her wand tap to her throat.

"Everyone!" She said, her voice suddenly magnified. The effect was instantaneous. Like an _Augumenti _over a match.

"Well, this is certainly a dilemma I never expected to be in," she laughed a little, shaking her head as if the situation was no bigger than forgetting to feed the family goldfish.

I couldn't believe it! She was standing up there, completely calm and collected in front of all the people who'd just seen her almost husband disapparate off with her sister.

The audience laughed a bit uncomfortably, like the humiliation you'd have expected _Victoire _to feel was distributed among the audience themselves.

"The sister of the bride runs off with the husband as they're taking their vows...sounds like a bad joke. Since this was all so unexpected, and we're all here anyway and all dressed up-why not just continue to the reception?" Victoire clapped her hands together like this had been her plan all along. Her parents and many other adults took this as a cue to start bustling around, summoning portkeys and shepherding people towards them. "In the meantime," Victoire continued. "I'd appreciate if my sister and Teddy weren't spoken ill of. We don't know the full story yet. And besides, I'd rather just forget this whole ordeal and enjoy myself."

We all transported to the reception area in the magical area slightly outside of Paris, a ballroom where Victoire wouldn't be dancing with Teddy.

_Tap, tap, tap. _Our dancing clump of cousins-loud and laughing, eventually twirled our way past the window, where a flash of feathers caught my eye. Really, it was a wonder I heard the beak striking glass at all. I disentangled from trying to stop James and Albus pleading to dance with some veelas.

"Some things never change," Hermione half-sighed, half-laughed with Ginny as she nodded her head at the boys.

What were my aunts talking about?

I continued toward the door, making sure no one had seen me go.

"Why, hello there," a pimply wizard looking to be no older than twelve slid smoothly in front of me, cracking his fingers and then sliding his hands down his slightly protruding belly. He had a nasally French accent.

"Er, hi." Slightly impatient, I crossed my arms, and tapped my foot. "Can I help you?" I asked in my politest voice.

"Are you related, by any chance, to the great and powerful, the stunning, the magnificent, the totally awesome war god Harry Potter?" He asked, completely solemnly. Definitely not a relative of us, this kid.

"Yup," My eyes flickered over his head and toward the door.

"You're tall," he observed. "I see no heel wearing for you in the future, darling," he observed, patting my arm consolingly.

"Well, you're pretty short. So you can have mine, for when, you know, you want to reach a counter or something," I said coolly, examining my fingernails. "How old are you anyway? Twelve?"

The boy looked offended.

"_Fourteen!" _He corrected, aghast. "What's your nationality?" He suddenly changed tracks.

"Well...I'm a quarter black," I squinted at him.*

"Oh. I like it. It's _foxy." _

I wasn't used to this, I usually didn't have strange boys hitting on me, twelve or no. I wasn't especially pretty, but I guess the bridesmaid dress Victoire had selected brought out the best in everyone.

"Ohh-kayyy. I've got to go, it's really important-" I started to edge toward the door. I really wanted to tell this kid where he could shove it-

"Oh no, my African princess!" Okay, this was getting slightly personal- "I shall be your escort, you never know what may be lurking-"

"We're just in a ballroom outside of downtown non-muggle Paris," I pointed out, exasperated. "In case you didn't hear, Voldemort died quiet a while ago."

"See, silly girl! You don't even know what the location is called! That would be-"

I didn't get to hear _what _it was called, because I had bolted out the door.

"Kodi!" I whisper-yelled to my snowy white owl, who blinked her golden brown eyes at me from her perch in the tree. She cocked her head at me, perplexed.

"I know, I hardly recognize me either in this fancy dress and actually non frizzy hair...look, it's actually curly and not frizzy!" I said excitedly, holding up a piece that had slipped out of my hairdo. "I'm thinking about making the change permanent, but Mum won't let me..." I put down the strand of dark hair.

I took the letter from Kodi, who held her leg out patiently.

My eyes bugged out, and I almost dropped the letter in surprise. The handwriting was Dom's.

_Dear Roxanne,_

_I couldn't decide who to address this to, you or Rose. We're all so close! But I'm hoping you will be understanding about why I did what I did. I am so, so so very sorry. I've embarrassed Vic terribly, I'm sure. Not to mention the whole entire family. Vic and I have never been the closest but I am still horrified at myself but at the same time, Teddy and Victoire were not right for each other._

_I suppose you're old enough-16-to be wondering if the reason Ted left was because I was...oh, this is so awkward...well, let's just say I _don't _have a bun in the oven. we haven't done anything like that. Oh, I'm so sorry, but I'm so happy...we're fine, both fine, tell Mum and Dad. And from Ted, tell Victoire he's so, so sorry. Tell her I am too. And I will make it up to her someday, I promise. Don't know when we'll be back._

_Love, Dominique_

_P.S. Sorry this letter is a bit all over the place, I'm very emotional right now. I promise I'll send a follow up letter soon-ish_ _explaining everything. I didn't have time to take anything, much less my owl, so I've disapparated back and given this letter to Kodi to give to you. By this time I've packed some things from my room and left. Please don't search for me._

"Dominique," I growled, crumpling the letter into a ball and shoving it angrily into my bag. If she was here, I'd give out to her with a shouting match to rival Ginny Weasley, Professor McGonagall, and my mother all put together. And that was a damn sight scarier than Voldemort himself.

For the first time, I was taking Victoire's side. Dom was right; if she wanted sympathy, and for someone to tell her she'd done the right thing, she should have addressed the letter to Rose. Because she certainly wasn't getting any from me. I was so mad at both her and Ted that right now, I didn't care where either of them had gone.

_Snap._

"Who's there?" I whirled around, eyes wide. Kodi took off behind me, white wings practically glowing against the dark sky.

"Fat load of good as a guardian owl you are," I murmured under my breath. I took a step forward, peering around the tree in front of me, my stomach tight with worry. "Hey!" A dark shadow began to run away, sprinting back toward the reception.

He'd been spying one me! I began to chase after him, but could barely manage a fast hobble in my flats and dress-

The bloke opened the door and turned around. I was still a ways behind him, too far to see when the light caught his face. He looked back at me once, before he turned back and slammed the door behind him.

"Please proceed to terminal Dumbledore for Destination: London," the cool female voice instructed all almost 25 of us. The wedding and reception had been two nights ago, and now we were on our way back to London. School would be starting soon: in twelve days, to be exact.

The Portkey Station was much like a muggle airport, Grandpa Weasley had been telling us for the past half hour.

"And they all get in these steel metal box things, and sit in these seats and-and-Harry, do tell me again how muggle jet airplanes fly?" Graying Grandpa Arthur was talking excitedly to a bored looking Rose and Hugo.

The center of the station was huge, tall, and circular. Much like a large dome, the whole thing made of glass except for the many tunnels branching out from it. All sorts of levitating conveyor belts rumbled over our heads, but down where we were standing was much like the lobbies of many different hotels all smushed together, the waiting area for the portkeys. Before you could come into the airport you had to go through security, a lengthy process where your bags and you were scanned with all sorts of Dark Magic Detectors. Then, before you went into your respective portkey tunnel, you were scanned all over again in case something appeared that wasn't there five minutes ago.

Floating along with the conveyor belts were levitating platforms of glass: mini office rooms, where employees worked and answered floo calls and responded if you needed them to.

"Terminal Dumbledore," Grandma Molly said briskly, picking up her suitcases and bags and waddling over to the closest waiting area as soon as our tickets had materialized in front of us, winding themselves around our bags.

We practically took up our whole section of waiting lobby, all twenty-some of us and our bazillion suitcases, piled together and waiting. It wasn't long before Albus and James nicked something from their mother's suitcase and began to throw it around, all the while making loud commentary as if it were a Quidditch match.

"And Potter passes to Potter, those devilishly handsome brothers are on _fire _this season! With a daring Wronski fiend followed by a sloth roll, a _daring _combination expertly pulled off by none other than-"

"_James Potter!" _Ginny Weasley screamed, and the half of the airport that _wasn't _watching James and Albus make complete fools of themselves (with Fred, Hugo, and Louis tagging along a step behind) was now watching as well.

And then, the whispers grew louder.

"That _is _Harry Potter!"

"Yes-why, yes it is! They've just got back from their cousin's wedding, I read in Witch Weekly-"

Victoire sank a little lower in her seat.

"And there's-that's- Hermione and Ron as well!" Suddenly-

_Wheeeeeee-oooooo-eeeeeeee-oooooo-eeeeee-oooooo-_

"Ahhhh-ahhhhhh!" Everyone began to scream as the lights turned red and began to flash.

Pandemonium erupted like someone had set a pair of hungry Basilisks out in the middle. Suitcases were being thrown and pushed over, and people were tripping all over them.

"Rose!" I yelled, grabbing her arm.

"Roxanne!" My little brother Fred screamed, his eyes wide with terror as he locked his arms around my waist and held on for dear life. The three of us stood grimly still holding onto one another as the chaos continued around us. Mostly because we were afraid to move for fear of getting trampled.

Maybe the people had all gone crazy for good reason: the only reason _we _weren't screaming and bolting for the door was because we didn't know what the alarms were for. And the trampling thing, of course. Everyone else knew about the alarms, apparently.

"Roxanne! Fred!" I heard Mum shrieking, and I caught a glimpse of her as she was pushed away by the crowd. We had already been separated from the rest of the family: the area where we had all been sitting was directly on the pathway to the nearest exit.

_"Dark magic detected-level seven, level seven," _a voice was suddenly magically magnified. _"Please, we ask you to stay calm, and walk at a brisk pace to the nearest exit-"_

"Level seven hasn't happened since You-Know-Who!" A man screamed, about the same age as our parents. Meaning, he had lived through Voldemort once already.

So that's what the alarm meant. That's why people were so terrified.

"Rose-Rose! Roxanne and Fred too! They're all here, Angelina, Hermione-I've got them!" Harry herded both of us in front of him and he began pushing us with the flow of terrified people. Kids were wailing and parents were screaming for their kids. Harry's face looked dark and for a moment, not like Harry at all, as the red flashing lights washed across his features.

In the emergency lights, everyone looked sinister and-

"Uncle Harry!" I yelled. My hand had been ripped from Rose's as a fresh surge of people were pushed through. I stumbled into a middle aged wizard-I couldn't fall, I had to stay on my feet or I'd be trampled.

A scream burst from my mouth, adding to the other cries of terror.

Finally, I was jostled and bumped outside the current of people and I gulped in several breaths as I fell hard to the floor, breathing shaky and heart racing. I was sweaty and my hair was a mess; it had come out of its ponytail and was sticking out around my head.

I began to push myself shakily to my feet, but what I saw stopped me.

I ducked back behind the chair I had fallen next to, on my hands and knees so the people I had spotted couldn't look over and see me.

There was a group of men-boys-all dressed in dark robes with matching serious faces. No-there were several girls, too, looking just as serious. They were all standing by the dark magic detectors before the tunnels...they must have been the one who caused the alarms!

My heart began to beat faster. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans, and peeked out again from behind the chair.

I could see the dark robed people from behind the security wizards legs, where they looked surprisingly casual for having just caused the evacuation of a _whole _portkey station.

"-understand me? Answer! You have just caused a level seven-"

"I do not speak English," the man in front, who seemed to be the leader, said in a thick, heavy accent. He sounded almost Bulgarian. There were several grown men but mostly boys and a few girls, all looking to be around the age of 16 or 17. They looked like they had been impedimented, the way they were just standing there stone-faced-

"Stop that. I heard you speaking English earlier to your friends here and you've got to give yourself up for questioning or-"

"I do not speak English."

"Dan, call the aurors," the security man said quietly to the man next to him, who nodded and did something with his wand behind his back so they couldn't see.

"You have caused a full evacuation of the station," the security wizard said in a loud, slow voice. "You have been caught to be possessing level seven dark artifacts, which alone is a sentence to Azkaban for up to ten years. The caliber of these objects have not been seen since You-Know-Who himself," the man's voice was hard and unforgiving.

"Well," the Bulgarian man said,standing up from his chair where his following had been clustered behind, as if it were a throne. He was tall and heavy set-everything about him was large.

All seven security wizards had their hands in their pockets instantly.

Where were the bloody aurors?

"Perhaps you had best forget us, then," the man said, as if on cue, the boys and girls behind him were suddenly holding wands.

Spiraling through the air they cracked down. The security wizards were on the ground faster than I could even blink. _What? Had a bunch of teenagers just taken down adult wizards?_

_What kind of mental nightmare had I entered into?_

I clamped my hand to my mouth to bite back a scream. I pushed myself closer to the chair, heart racing and in my throat.

The man said something too low for me to hear.

Footsteps began to approach and I shut my eyes tight, clasping my clammy hands together. In a wild moment of panic I realized I'd left my wand in my bag.

The footsteps came to a stop, and I cracked open an eyelid. The man was staring down at me, and began to smile cruelly. The teenagers behind him were stepping over suitcases, heading the opposite direction that the people had run earlier. He was the only one who had noticed me.

"Hello there," the man's smile widened, revealing a row of yellow, rotting teeth. "Such a shame you had to see this." He raised his wand, still smiling, and suddenly I was swimming in darkness.

**A\\N** **(Okay, did my research on this one and African persons in Britain do NOT refer to themselves as "African British" Or anything. People over there think that's ridiculous. They just refer to themselves as British, but as Roxanne is explaining her nationality, I am using the phrase "black." I may be overreacting but I thought I should probably explain, even if unnecessary.)**

_**A/N Okay guys, this is the first chapter of a new story...if you like it, drop me a review! I want to know what you think! :D **_

_**-Cassia**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all my readers and reviews of the last chapter, and to my awesome beta. Seriously, I owe you so much.**

**-C**

**Disclaimer: Obviously, not mine.**

_Chapter 2: No False Alarm_

"Everyone!"

I stumbled toward the crowd of people, rubbing my temples; I remembered falling and hitting my head in the stampede of people.

"Someone called us from inside, I'm sure of it," I saw an Auror speaking in low tones to a security wizard, a bit removed from the crowd. "And we couldn't get in, couldn't apparate in."

"Are you sure it wasn't just the anti-apparation and disapparation shields?" The security wizard was saying, but he sounded like he was doubting himself.

"No, Aurors can get through those," the man said, sounding agitated. "It was something else."

"Please calm down! There is no reason to panic! Our security wizards are inside now and have completely apprehended the situation and we offer you all a free flight on the muggle airline Charles DeGaulle to your respective locations, we have several ministry members stationed there now and ready to-"

"Roxanne Weasley!" My mother hissed, dark eyes flashing as she held my arm in a death grip. "Where the bloody hell have you been?" She pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. "I was just about to come _get _you! We're going to have to go on an airplane, one of those muggle transportation methods your grandfather's so obsessed with...they're saying it'll be a week until they've got the whole station back to normal, and we can't stay here for a week. School will be starting soon and we've still got to go to Diagon Alley!"

"Scoping out the scene to see if you could bash a couple dark wizard heads together?" Dad grinned at me. Both the beginnings of laugh lines and the ever present sadness in his blue eyes were the marks of his twin Fred, the uncle I had never met.

Mum glared at him, and he quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, you should have stuck closer to us, young lady..." the minute Mum turned her back, Dad and I burst into silent laughter. Dad _never _said 'young lady.'

Reporters began to flock around our large crowd, calling out questions about Dark Wizards. The Ministry officer paused his lengthy speech to assure them it was just a false alarm; someone must have accidentally hit the switch or something. He guaranteed them that nothing had gone wrong.

"Dad, do you think it was a false alarm?" I whispered. The grin slowly slid off his face and suddenly I saw the teenager who had witnessed part of Voldemort's first reign of terror, his rebirth, and downfall. And had lost both family and friends in the process.

"Did you see the group of Durmstrang teachers and students, Roxanne?" He whispered to me. "It's another wizarding school, used to be all boys but a couple of years ago they opened it up to girls too." I thought for a moment, and shook my head no.

"Well...I know dark wizards, Roxie," he whispered, using a nickname I wouldn't permit from anyone else. "And that was no false alarm."

With the help of several squibs working in the airport who the Ministry paid to clear out a few planes for us wizards, we were in the air several hours later. Now I sat next to Uncle Harry on the plane, listening to 200 wizards exclaim over the muggleness of the current situation. Purebloods were nervously asking half bloods and muggle born passengers how airplanes stayed up.

Uncle Harry was staring down at the magazine in front of him with an odd expression on his face. The magazine was in French, which I only knew a bit of, thanks to Fleur. It said something about an English family of three spitting in-no, winning-some contest...something to do with eating...eating contest? I gave up. The caption read Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, and Dudley Dursley.

I looked back at Harry's face, his green eyes distant with the look of remembering a childhood, a lifetime. What was in that picture?

"Who are they?" Harry made no reaction, just absent-mindedly touched the scar on his forehead under his jet-black hair, still untouched by even a strand of gray.

"My aunt and uncle, and cousin," he said finally, and then I made the connection.

"Oh! They...that's your mum's sister, and you lived with them..." I trailed off.

"Dudley's still living with his parents," Uncle Harry said, a ghost of a smile on his face, the smile of a bullied child who saw retribution of the bully. "Yeah...I remember the last time I saw them. Dudley told me I wasn't a waste of space, and I didn't know if I'd live to see them again. I used to get a Christmas card from Petunia, once every year, for a few years. But after that, they just...stopped." He looked up and his eyes fixed on the seat in front of him, his mind a million miles away. After not saying anything for a while, he spoke again.

"Did you know there's going to be international students coming to Hogwarts this year? I suppose you didn't. I wasn't supposed to mention that...Merlin, I'm turning into Hagrid. Well, if Neville...Professor Longbottom, I mean...told me, then I guess it's alright...he didn't know where they were from, he thought possibly the new Magic institute in America. D'you mind if I go and talk to Rom and Hermione? I want to see what they think about that security breach at the station..." He got up and made his way to the back.

I swiveled in my seat, scanning for Victoire. I'd been wanting to speak to her-aha! She was sitting alone, staring out the window, blonde hair pulled back from her face in a messy yet elegant pony tail.

I stood up and stepped into the aisle, and caught the eye of Aunt Fleur. She cocked her head at Victoire, mouthing, '_you too?' _I nodded and she swept her hand out as if to say '_go ahead.' _I smiled briefly at her before sliding in beside Victoire.

Vic and I had never been the closest. Actually, she wasn't particularly close to any of us cousins, not like Rose and I were. It wasn't her fault, but she had always kind of distanced herself from our loud, rambunctious playing. As a child I had thought-we had all thought-that it was because she believed she was better than us. But now I realized she was a little scared, a little shy, even though we were all younger than her.

And maybe later, if she'd _wanted _to join in, she couldn't because we'd already formed bonds that she didn't think she could enter into. None of us ever left her out on purpose but I think we all felt a little bit guilty whenever we thought of Victoire.

"Hey." I touched her arm and beamed when she turned around to look at me.

"Hi, Roxanne." She offered me a brief smile before turning back around to stare at the window as we passed through a cloud, a few wispy bits clinging to the window.

"It sure looks like we're moving slowly, doesn't it?" I tried to make conversation, settling in and crossing my legs so she knew I was planning to stay a while.

"A lot slower than a portkey," she agreed. "But fast to a muggle."

"Yup," I nodded. The air was thick with awkwardness between us and I caught someone looking at me from between the crack in our seats. I twisted around in an uncomfortable position to see Rose looking at me with an odd look on her face. I quickly slipped her while Victoire's back was turned the letter I'd gotten from Dom at the reception so she could read it. "So...I'm really sorry about your wedding, Victoire, but you handled it so nicely, you didn't look nervous at all-"

"Roxanne, if this is what you came to talk about, please don't. I'm sorry, but you're only fourteen, you wouldn't understand. Okay? Just please go sit down."

"I'm sixteen," I said quietly, kind of hurt.

"Oh, merlin, I don't even know my cousin's age," Victoire moaned, and stifled what seemed to be a cross between a sob and a bitter laugh behind her hands. When she peeked over her fingertips at me, her brilliant blue eyes were shiny with tears. "Roxanne, I'm sorry," she sighed, resting her hand on my knee. "I'm being a brat, aren't I?"

"No, but if you did you'd have a right to!" I assured her vehemently. Half of me was screaming _where's your loyalty to Dom _but the other half chided it, saying _blind loyalty to someone, no matter what wrong they've done, is worse than no loyalty at all. _"I don't know what I would do if I had a sister and she ran away with my fiancee," I sighed, and I shivered when I tried to put myself in Vic's shoes. "Ooh, I'd be mad,"I laughed a bit. "But you were so calm...sorry. I'm sure you don't want to talk about this-" I got up to leave.

"Wait!" Victoire pleaded, pulling at my sleeve. I turned back around to look at her. "I do want to talk to you, Roxanne. We don't get to talk much, just us two. Actually, I suppose I don't talk to _any _of you cousins as much as I should," she sighed regretfully. "You all seemed to be having such fun without me, especially when you were children, and I didn't think you wanted me. And especially when Dominique came along, and she was so outgoing, like you, and Rose."

"It's not too late, you know," I told her, hoping I'd said the right thing. "I like your company, Vic, and for what it's worth, I'm on your side," I whispered the last bit, and squeezed her hand. "So when the traitors return, I've got your back."

A bit of fire came to Vic's eyes as she smiled and squeezed my hand back.

"By the way," I whispered. "I got a letter from Dom. Ted says he's sorry," I whispered, and Vic's eyes grew cold again at the mention of her sister.

"I honestly never want to see either of them again," she laughed a bit. "Well, that's not true. I know I'd miss them. Just right now...I don't feel like I could handle it."

"I'd help," I said eagerly, and she smiled gratefully at me.

"You know, I overheard something one night, between Dominique and Ted," she said, her voice thick with the beginnings of tears. But she looked up at the ceiling for a moment, gathered her strength, and carried on.

"You don't have to tell me, you know," I said. "If you don't want to."

"I do," Victoire assured me vehemently. "I heard them talking...Dominique pleading to call off the wedding. This was about a month ago. Ted said no, that he loved me, and Dominique asked him to kiss her. I don't know if he did. Or what was said. But he stormed out ten minutes later, and after that I never saw a word go between them that wasn't purely sibling-like." She paused, thinking. I felt disgusted with Dom, horrified. I felt Rose slip the letter back to me, but Victoire didn't seem to notice. I slid it into my pocket. "He must have changed his mind," she whispered.

"Do you ever wonder..." I began, wondering how to phrase it. "Do you ever wonder what was said? If they kissed, or...anything else?"

"If you mean Occlumency, it's crossed my mind," she admitted. "But I couldn't do it. I thought if I just trusted him, it would turn out all right. Obviously not!"

I stayed quiet. "Thank you, for telling me," I said. For a moment Victoire looked very shocked with herself, like something else entirely had possessed her to spill all her doubts and secrets and now she was wondering why she had. "I won't tell anyone, you know."

"I know," the ghost of a smile crossed her lips as she nodded. "Louis keeps telling me how he thinks he's going to challenge Ted to a wizard's duel, to the death!"

"Little brothers," I agreed laughing.

"Roxanne?" Rose asked in sort of a strained voice, standing. Her eyes were bright, her red hair pulled back from her face in a tight pony tail.

"What?" I asked, slightly impatient. Couldn't she see I was talking to Vic?

"It's important. We should talk," Rose said, and nodded her head toward the back of the airplane.

"I'll be right back," I told Victoire, and she nodded and smiled, looking back toward the window, seeming a little less sad now. When I left, Fleur slid in next to her daughter.

"Yeah?" I asked Rose and we both adopted identical positions, leaning our backs on the walls of either side of the aisle, crossing our arms. We had practically been raised out of the same crib, Rose and I, with our birthdays two days apart, and the closeness of all four our parents having played Quidditch together.

"What were you talking to Victoire about?" She asked, looking at me intently.

"Well, Dom. I can't believe what she did," I sighed. "What could she be thinking?" I wondered.

"Well," Rose said slowly. I could tell she had a different opinion, but was hesitant to voice it. "She loved Ted, and obviously Ted loved her-"

"That doesn't make it okay to humiliate Victoire like that, running away...they completely betrayed her, both of them," I pointed out, my voice slightly strained.

"Well, maybe it wasn't the perfect time, but it was love, Roxanne! People wait all their lives to find love like Dom and Ted's," she said passionately.

"What?!" I exclaimed. "Are you insane?! They _left _her at the _actual wedding! _And even if they hadn't done it at that moment, it was her sister and her fiancee. The two people who should have always been at her side! Not betraying her!" _What was Rose thinking?_

"Roxanne, where's your loyalty to Dom!" Rose demanded angrily. I stepped forward, standing nose to nose with her. We were exactly the same height.

"Taken a vacation when Dominique ruined Victoire's wedding and stole her husband!" I raised my voice.

"He wasn't her husband yet!" She rose hers as well.

"Close enough!" I was practically shouting now.

"You didn't deserve that letter from her, she should have sent it to me!" Rose yelled.

"She should have! She was wrong in thinking everyone would give her sympathy, and you're wrong in giving yours to her!" I yelled, my voice ultimately louder than hers. I smirked at her triumphantly, and then turned around to see the whole entire plane staring at us, rows and rose of shocked expressions.

"Erm, sorry for the disruption-" Rose began.

"And that concludes your mid-flight soap opera!" I announced with a cheery smile. Some people actually began clapping, confused. Rose yanked my arm toward a small curtained off corner for luggage. I smiled and waved and blew kisses to the now thunderously applauding airplane, laughing with a smile still on my face as I came face to face with a steaming mad Rose.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Rose, just admit you're wrong," I snapped, yanking the curtain back and practically tripping over a suitcase.

"No, _you-"_

"Hello, ladies," a flight attendant yanked open the curtains, with a falsely cheery smile on her face. "Can I get you anything?"

"We're having a very important conversation," I smiled back just as cheerily. This flight attendant must have been a squib or a witch, otherwise she wouldn't have been let in on this plane trip.

"Well girls, let's continue it in our seats, shall we?" She said, cheerily clapping her hands together and steering us out.

"Okay," I grumbled. "Rose, I'll be on the _other _side of the airplane."

"Fine with me," she sneered, and I tossed my hair in her face before marching back to my seat.

"Albus!" A voice shouted as we took our few steps into Diagon Alley. All of the cousins were with Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron; we had exactly a week before Hogwarts, and I was both excited and dreading the end of summer.

"Scorpius!" Albus shouted, waving to his best friend somewhere in the crowd.

Diagon Alley was bustling with people, bells tinkling as they left and entered shops. Pasted all over glossy store windows were flashing, moving posters advertising things like _24 Years Voldemort-Free!_

_Special Discount for the Warriors of Hogwarts at Quality Quidditch Supplies Now Through September!_

_The Kingsley-Aaru_ _Law Passed (Better known as the Remus Lupin law)-Making Life Easier for Werewolves One Step at a Time-_You _Have that One Time a Month, Why Can't They?_

I saw my reflection in the nearest window, surrounded by a gaggle of cousins, mostly red-headed. Fred and I were nearly the only ones without the signature fiery hair-our mother was half black, but she was very dark. Fred took after her, and his skin was a glossy coffee sort of color. I took after my dad and was a lot paler, but you could still tell I wasn't completely Caucasian even though I had none of the traditional features that made a face look African. I had dark unmanageable frizzy (before I bought potion for it that would calm it down a lot) hair that was _definitely _from my mother, dark eyes, and a slightly darker complexion than normal. I didn't think I terrified any babies, but I wasn't any great beauty like Lily Luna, either.

We saw Scorpius weave his way through the crowd, his blonde hair flying. Al bolted out to greet him and when they met, they did some sort of weird, bro-version of a hug and then jumped up, slamming their chests into one another, proceeding to knock into a young witch with three screaming triplets trailing behind her.

"Sorry, ma'am!" Albus called, and Scorpius quickly picked up the triplet he had caused to fall over in surprise, shocking him out of his crying. He smiled innocently as the the mother turned around to glare at the boys.

"Guess what!" Once the family had passed, Albus shouted much too loud for just the person next to him. The two Slytherin boys, whenever together, always seemed to be having yelling contests with their dialogue. At this point Lily broke off with a couple of her friends, as well as Louis and Hugo.

"Here comes Draco and Astoria," my closest cousin to me, Lucy, whispered. "Fancy seeing you here, Potter," Lucy mocked Draco's standard stiff greeting in a nasally voice, jerkily extending a single finger to be shaken.

"Yes, hello, Malfoy. Let us converse awkwardly and stiffly while not making any attempt to put the past behind us," I said in just as nasally a voice, shaking my single finger with hers. We burst into giggles. Lucy was a Hufflepuff, also going into 6th year with Albus, Rose and I.

"Fancy seeing you here, Potter." Draco came up, smiling stiffly with his teeth clenched, only succeeding in looking like he was trying to hide the fact that someone was walloping him on the backside.

"-Dad told me that students from Durmstrang were coming!" Scorpius was telling Albus excitedly.

"Dad told me too-they have girls now too, so we'll be getting some nice foreign ladies-wait, are you and Anna still dating?"

"Nah, we fought last night. But I'm going to call her up at lunchtime and apologize," Scorpius shrugged and Al nodded. This was a perfectly common conversation concerning Anna, one of my best friends and Scorpius's on again, off again girlfriend. Anna Jacklyn was a very pretty blond, blue-eyed Gryffindor Seeker who I had befriended in my first year of Hogwarts, despite us being in different houses.

"Maybe we could secretly hold a bunch of competitions with them, like flying and stuff-y'know, kind of like the Triwizard-" Albus started in a low voice.

Molly Weasley, who was going into her 5th year, smacked him upside the head. "Albus!" She screeched, big blue eyes wide with terror. "Don't you even try that! Last time there was a Triwizard tournament Cedric Diggory died-"

"Oh come off it Mols, it's not actually going to be the _tournament!" _Albus scoffed, clapping her shoulder.

"You just fancy that Diggory boy anyway, don't you Molly? Landon, was he?"

"Shut up, Scorpius," Molly whispered, turning red.

"Oi! Leave Molly alone Malfoy, I could tell a few tales about you and Anna, you know," I reminded him, punching his shoulder.

"Cousin Roxie!" Scorpius broke into a grin, giving me a one-armed squeeze.

"DON'T call me Roxie, _SCORPY," _I growled, elbowing him playfully.

"_Ooof," _Scorpius exclaimed. "I say, Roxanne-"

"Melody!" I yelled loudly, catching sight of my best friend. Half the people on the street looked at me in distaste. I grinned happily and bolted toward my friend, and we collapsed into a giant hug.

"_Oh, _I _missed _you!" I exclaimed as we rocked back and forth, still hugging. "Don't you _ever _go on vacation again!" I exclaimed, smelling her wavy black hair carefully. "New shampoo?"

"Yup," she smiled, pulling back and grinning at me, blue eyes sparkling. "And you-my Merlin, your hair! What've you done to it?!" She yelled seizing a lock of it. "It's-it's-"

"Mildly curly?" I laughed. "Mom _finally _let me get it done. It's permanent."

"It's so long!" Melody yelled.

"Isn't it?! And you got tan!" I yelled back, and suddenly I realized that we were doing exactly what Scorpius and Al always did when they saw each other after not being together after a while.

"It's bonkers, I was completely burnt a couple days ago but then it faded into this!" She said excitedly. "Come on-time to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies!" We linked arms and made our way over to the shop.

"How's Rose?" She asked as we walked in, the bell above the door merrily announcing our arrival.

"Still stubborn. Can you believe she's taken Dom's side in this?" I sighed. Of course, Melody had already been owled the whole story concerning the wedding.

"She must be mental," Melody agreed. "But maybe it runs in the family...you _are _going to try and fly this year, _right? _We had a bet! You'd get on a broom if I asked Rose why she stopped hanging out with us in second year, you didn't want to because you '_didn't want your cousin mad at you over that again-'" _she quoted.

"And I was right that she'd be mad too, wasn't I!" I said triumphantly. "I remember that, she didn't talk to you for weeks. I mean, more than she didn't already."

"All that over Scorpius, and neither Anna nor Rose would give it up-he's still oblivious, of course," Melody sighed, eye falling on the practice Quidditch set. "How much is this-twenty _galleons_!" Her eyes bugged out and she dropped the chest faster than you could say 'broomstick.'

"Birthday present!" I sang. Our family was not exactly rich; we both knew I'd never be able to afford that. In fact, every year coming to Diagon Alley and getting new things was a struggle. More often than not we used our cousins' old things. Mum worked at the Ministry of Magic registering Animagi, and Dad used to run a joke shop, but sold it a couple of years after Fred died. In fact, that was how my parents met, working in the shop. But after they were married, George closed it. He said it wasn't the same without Fred.

Now, Dad helped out Uncle Harry in the Auror's office.

"Look-we can actually _try out _the brooms now! They have some device so if you try to steal it, it'll come back to the store on its own!" I exclaimed, pointing to the new sign showing a grinning child flying up in the sky, with the Quidditch store in the background and all the workers waving at her from the ground like they were seeing her off on a journey.

"Wicked," Melody whispered. "Look-a two-seater broom! Oh, you're _so _coming with me," She laughed, plucking it off it's spot on the wall and bringing it to the front.

"We'd like to test out this broom, please-"

"No we wouldn't!" I sang, taking the broom out of Melody's hands. "We were just looking, sorry to bother you-"

"Are you _scared, _Roxanne?" Melody turned to me and said innocently.

"No!" I said quickly, knowing exactly was she was doing...but it was still working. Even though I was a Ravenclaw, when half of your family are Gryffindors, you learn to never admit that you're scared to do something. And you _always _take dares. Always.

"Fine, we'll try it out," I growled to the confused looking teenager whose name tag read HELLO! My name is GABRIEL! Ask me about testing one of our brooms!

Ha.

He took us outside and explained the anti-theft device, and how to work the controls on a two-seater. We'd both have to really be in sync. We explained that we'd been best friends for five years, so thinking together wasn't really a problem. Melody hopped anxiously from foot to foot, dying to get on, and I was dying to sneak away. I wasn't scared of heights, exactly, but ever since I'd witnessed someone fall off and break both their legs first year, it was all I could picture whenever I even went near a broom. It was definitely safe to say I would be perfectly fine with never mounting a broom in my life.

"Okay," I said shakily when the shop boy said we could get on whenever we were ready. "I'll go in front so you can steer," I said quickly, jumping on the front end of the broom, holding on for dear life, and closing my eyes. This broom was like a canoe, the guy had said. The person in back had 80 percent of the steering. I could feel the broom dip slightly when Melody climbed on, and I practically slid off the side. "How do you stay on this?!" I griped, tightening my hands and legs.

"Lean forward a bit, don't sit so stiff like that. Relax. It's not going to bite you in the butt." The boy snorted and laughed like he had just uttered the most hilarious joke in the history of funny.

"Ha, ha," I said, breathing in through my nose. "Okay. Let's just go. Go, and get this over with."

"Alright!" Melody said excitedly. "Looks like a perfect day to fly!"

"Yeah, but watch for those storm clouds to the north, they look like they might be nasty-"

"Whoooooo!" Suddenly Melody had pushed off the ground and we were zooming through the air. My hair was whipping backwards and I seized up with terror, absolutely frozen in fear.

"TAKE! ME! DOWN!" I screamed through clenched teeth, bending down lower on the broom so I could hug it tightly-the broom dipped down slowly and I practically slid of the end.

Screaming at the top of my lungs I righted myself quickly, sitting perfectly straight after that.

"This isn't funny!" I yelled back to Melody, who was laughing hysterically. I shut my eyes tight after that, letting Melody do the steering.

"Doesn't the wind in your face feel nice?" Melody tried to convince me.

"Sure," I said quickly, keeping my face up so I wouldn't be tempted to look down. Flying was so much easier than it looked. Until you got your balance, which took ages, it was a lot like walking on a tight rope. It constantly felt like I was about to fall, so I would make jerky movements to regain my balance and then I would end up overcorrecting, which made me get off center even more. "Did that guy say something about clouds?" I shouted behind me.

"Yeah, they're up ahead-we'll be fine though, we've just got to pull around them," Melody said calmly. "Do you think you can lean to the left a bit?"

"Sure," I said tightly, and tried to shift my weigh slightly. Melody did the same and the broom turned with surprising ease, and we curved around the dark grey cumulonimbus cloud towering in front of us. "There's more!" I yelled a warning. The next few moments we were silent, moving in synch to weave in and out of the clouds. In the distance, lightning flashed. I felt the hair on my arms lift with the tingle of electricity. "We've got to get out of this now," I said, and a loud peal of thunder exploded so loudly that my ears tingled and reverberated with the sound. "Let's go to the left. I see a forest over there, we'll be safe. The storm is moving the opposite direction. We can land there and figure out what to do."

"Okay," Melody said in a small voice, and my stomach swooped as we took a sharp turn to the right, narrowly missing flying through a cloud. We angled the broom down and turned on the speed.

My teeth chattered with cold, my hands numb from the temperature and gripping the broom so hard. By now, we were both completely soaked from the condensation in the air, and from the beginnings of the storm. I gasped as a new torrent of rain slapped me in the face, and rivulets of water streamed down my forehead and cheeks.

"Left!" I screamed. The now pouring rain was obstructing our vision, and I didn't see the cloud until it was right in front of us, looming forebodingly up just meters ahead. It was roughly the height of Hogwarts.

We continued our downward spiral, strong gusts of wind beginning to tug at our broom.

All at once, everything stopped. We were thrown out of the storm and into clear sky; soaked, shivering, and terrified. I looked back behind me to the wall of clouds we had just burst through; this and where we had just been were practically two different worlds, with nothing separating them.

"Okay?" I asked Melody, and she nodded shakily, tossing waterlogged hair out of her face. "Let's land here," I pointed down to a clearing in the lush, green forest. We slowed the broom and descended slowly down through the treetops, the sounds of birds singing and insects chirping blending together harmoniously. Wind whistled through the trees so calmly I could hardly believe we had just flown through the beginnings of a terrible storm.

"We're completely clear of it," Melody said in wonder as we landed. "It's going the opposite direction, back toward Diagon Alley!" The tips of our toes brushed the ground, and suddenly we were standing on solid land again.

"We lived!" I yelled, throwing the broom on the ground and grabbing Melody in a huge, wet hug. Our soaked robes were stuck to our wet bodies, and our hair was hanging limply around our faces.

"Yes!" Melody laughed, hugging me back. "Ouch!" She cried, yanking her foot up. "My foot!" I looked down in surprise to see blood rushing down from her ankle; her whole foot was caught in a patch of the nastiest looking thorns I'd ever seen. They were at least two inches long, with a horrid pointed tip.

"I'll pull you out, slowly," I said, taking her arms. She was standing on one foot and her eyes had welled up with tears. "Just-just hold onto my shoulders, I'm going to duck down and try to untangle you."

After several minutes of carefully working the thorns away, my hands had pricks all over them and Melody's foot was completely bloodied, her sandal torn.

"There," I sighed, and Melody hopped out.

"Look, this whole _clearing's _surrounded by thorns...we need to be getting back to Diagon Alley," Melody said, looking at the darkening sky. The full moon was rising and the sun were setting, a brilliant sunset lighting the heavens.

_Gggggrrrrrrrrrr._

_"_Did you hear that?" I whispered frantically, grabbing Melody's arm. "That noise!"

"What?" She asked loudly, and I quickly shushed her. Was it just paranoia? Darkness did strange things to peoples' minds...beyond our small clearing the trees bent in toward us, and suddenly the wind didn't seem so calm anymore. It knocked the trees branches together, and the leaves whispered like they knew something we didn't. And then, the noise again. Louder this time.

_Ggrrrrrrrrrrrrr-ahhhhr!_

"Who's there?" Melody cried, patting her pockets for her wand. "Bloody hell- oh Godric-oh, _Merlin-_I've left my wand with my parents, it's in my bag! Tell me you've got your wand, Roxanne!" She whispered feverishly, looking intently into my eyes.

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "But I think we'd better move to the broom in the middle of the clearing very, very quietly."

We locked arms solemnly. The branches in front of us, behind the patch of thorns, began to quiver. Something was _moving _in there. Melody was shaking, or maybe I was; we continued backing up, and each twig we snapped sounded like a peal of thunder.

Lightning flashed in the distance, and the clearing was lit for a split second. Melody inhaled sharply, letting out a harsh cry.

"What is it?" I whispered frantically, yanking her back further. "Bloody hell, where did we leave the damn broom? Where is it?" I asked frantically.

We were in trouble now.

"Here!" I screamed, breathing hard and fast in fright.

"Oh Merlin, it's a wo-" Merlody began

_Grrrr._

"Roxanne!" Melody was breathing fast, her voice tight with terror. Suddenly, I felt the hot breath of an animal on my leg.

Of a wolf.

**A\N Please review, I love to know what you all think!**


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